Dinner For Five Guys
Tim and I were watching Dinner For Five tonight. The guests were Frank Darabont, Harry Shearer, Fred Willard and Alan Cumming. (No sir, I will not buy any face cream with that brand name, clever though it may be.)
About twenty minutes into the show it hit me. The hidden chip on my shoulder that I think is (no pun intended) the elephant in the room with me and Hollywood. What it is that bugs me more than anything, and why I am having a hard time believing in the Tolerance Brigade and Mr. Clooney's bravery.
I'm a fat girl. I'm a smart girl, a pretty girl, a clever girl and a funny girl. But I'm also girthy. The brave movies, the forward movies, the tolerant movies--you can sup with others of another race. You can triumph over Communism. You can even have sex with another guy. Just whatever you do--don't fall in love with, don't show in any way, don't even acknowledge the existence of the fat chicks. This is the state of what I consume, and probably why I consume less. No one looks like me.
Is this why I am brought to tears by a soap commercial, and why I had a lump in my throat for all of Sara Ramirez' scenes in Grey's Anatomy? Probably. There is a glimmer of hope in those viewings that just doesn't exist in any of the Hollywood product I've seen.
I gobble up Dinner For Five like candy corn. I can't get enough of the anecdotes, the cross-chatter and the sense of fun. But tonight's show drove home the truth. Frank (not skinny) Darabont can hold the table in rapt attention. He has ripping tales as a writer and they all seemed to respect his mind and his humour. But I'm betting Shonda Rhimes will never be at that table. When the women are there, they are tiny little Neve Campbell ("What's it like to dance?!"), petite Christina Ricci or emaciated Rosanna Arquette. Rosanna had a lot to say about the lack of roles for older women. Rosanna, honey, let's talk. If you're fat you're older your whole life.
Is it a coincidence that box office takes are shrinking as America gets steadily larger? Probably, but I'm beginning to doubt it. If George Clooney wants to convince me that he's outside the mainstream, his next onscreen love interest could be at least a size 12.
posted by Kat Coble @ 11:42 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I understand how you might reach that conclusion, but I can't help but wonder whether this is really a cut and dry case of discrimination. Couldn't some of these conspicuously absent larger women simply be choosing not to seek participation in these venues?
Perhaps the controlling issue is less about size or physical beauty and more about substance. I've seen quite a few episodes of DFF and it seems to me that a lot of the people who participate are extremely self-important, smug, smarmy idiots who have received an excess of popular and financial validation. They're the people who try to get their names and faces onto the screen and in print at every possible opportunity. Isn't it possible that people who seem to have more substance, like Shonda Rhimes, might just be deciding that they have better things to do with their time than to seek an audience with these dolts?
I love Dinner For Five, and it is one of the reasons I am so sad I don't have digital cable and those extra channels anymore.
The weight issue - gah. I don't know why there's such a double standard. I mean, Paul Giamatti doesn't have trouble getting jobs. George Clooney put on 40 pounds or summat and won an Oscar.
Well, that's not true. I have a theory about the double standard and why heavy men are more acceptable - not just in movies, but in life in general - than heavy women. But that's a post in itself.
I love Dinner For Five, and it is one of the reasons I am so sad I don't have digital cable and those extra channels anymore.
They seem to be in repeat season now. If I get my act together I'll try to tape the new ones for you. (And by "my act" I mean "remembering to buy more tapes when I go to Target, like I just did and forgot yet again to buy the tapes.")
I have a theory about the double standard and why heavy men are more acceptable - not just in movies, but in life in general - than heavy women. But that's a post in itself.
Ooh!!!! Write that post!!! I wanna read it.
Couldn't some of these conspicuously absent larger women simply be choosing not to seek participation in these venues?
I think that in many cases it's an issue of knowing where you're not welcome. Sure, larger women choose to not participate, but how often is that because we know the response we'll get? We're well-trained.
I've seen quite a few episodes of DFF and it seems to me that a lot of the people who participate are extremely self-important, smug, smarmy idiots who have received an excess of popular and financial validation.
Some of them are self-important (Fred Willard), some of them (think Christina Ricci) are blindingly insecure and some of them are just plain fun (think Kevin Smith & Jason Lee.) In other words, it's a lot like a sales convention for a photo album company or a dinner with any of your groups of friends.
They're the people who try to get their names and faces onto the screen and in print at every possible opportunity.
Not to play devil's advocate, but that is their job--more or less. I'm not into self-promotion generally but since I'm self-employed I'm realising that you have to do a measure of stumping to get the work. I'm self-employed in creative fields--not that writing and graphic design are the same as Movie Acting--but I can draw a correlation.
Isn't it possible that people who seem to have more substance, like Shonda Rhimes, might just be deciding that they have better things to do with their time than to seek an audience with these dolts?
Again with the Shonda Rhimes Love on my part. I think half of it is that she's got better things to do--a hit show to write, a child to raise--but I also bet she'd do something like DFF if she were invited. Getting your name out there is essential for anyone who chooses to write for a living. DFF is a good venue for that. Besides, since it's produced by the Christmas Story kid, I can't consider them all dolts.
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